Five hurt as plane 'bounces off' runway

A Romanian airliner "bounced" off the runway while landing at Rome's main airport during heavy winds, injuring a flight attendant and four passengers.

Vitaliano Turra of Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC told Sky TG24 TV that the flight attendant aboard the Carpatair airliner and one of the passengers were taken to hospital.

Italian news agency ANSA said the injuries were fractures or bruises, and none was life-threatening.

ANSA said the ATR 72 ended up in the grass about 50 yards beside the runway at Leonardo da Vinci airport on a flight from the Tuscan city of Pisa last night, with 46 passengers and a crew of four aboard.

It quoted unidentified passengers as saying the aircraft landed hard on the runway, then appeared to have bounced, ending up off the tarmac and tilted to one side.

Mr Turra said the cause of the incident was being investigated but heavy winds that whipped the airport much of the day might have played a role.

:: A light aircraft crashed into the sea off Venezuela's coast yesterday, killing a 62-year-old woman. Six others aboard the plane survived, including two children.

Interior minister Nestor Reverol said the twin-engine Beechcraft BE58 went down east of the coastal city of Cumana.

Mr Reverol said the pilot had declared an emergency because both engines failed, and put the plane down in the water. The plane, which had been flying from Puerto Ordaz to Venezuela's Margarita Island when it went down, was found in the Gulf of Cariaco by fishermen.